Billie Holiday - Lady In Satin [CD] (2009)

Tracks 13 to 17 are bonus tracks.

Lady In Satin was Billie Holiday's penultimate studio album, at once a testament to her singular interpretive artistry and a chilling portrait of an artist living on borrowed time. In fact, Holiday (1915-1959)would live only another seventeen months after this recording- said to be her personal favorite- was made in february of 1958.
In her voice was a far cry from the blithe, connected like an instrument that during the 1930s stood the jazz world on its ear, it now drew from the deepest wellsprings of emotional experience. Framed by Ray Ellis' lush arrangements for large ensemble that included strings, harp, and vocal choir, Holiday renders these Great american torch songs with a kind of honesty that, given her shaky timbre, sometimes makes for difficult listening.
As Ellis himself says in his new annotation to Lady In satin, "After we finished the album... I must admit I was unhappy with her performance, but I was just listening musically instead of emotionally. I wasn't until I heard the final mix a few weeks later that I realized how great her performance really was."
In addition to the arranger's addendum, there are four previously unissued alternate takes, some beautiful photographs from the session, and a new 20-bit digital remastering by the acclaimed producer Phil Schaap.
Lady In satin now wears a stunning new gown